Why Let AI Take the Lead on Moderated Tests?

Many agencies still rely on manual, time‑consuming interviews and usability sessions. While these techniques uncover deep human insights, they often slow down projects and limit sample sizes. Advances in natural language processing, sentiment analysis and voice recognition now allow AI to step in as a capable moderator—asking follow‑up questions, analysing tone of voice and capturing feedback at scale. Rather than replacing researchers, AI opens the door to faster, more efficient studies that still deliver depth.

Smart Moderation with Human‑Level Nuance

Modern AI‑powered moderators can handle everything from recruitment to moderation. Tools like Glimma AI use synthetic voices to conduct one‑on‑one or group interviews, generating research questions on the fly and transcribing sessions in real time. These systems recognise tonal shifts and emotional cues, providing context that goes beyond words. AI even asks clarifying follow‑up questions during moderated tests, augmenting the depth of information without a human in the room.

This capability allows you to run sessions around the clock across multiple time zones. Automated moderation means you can recruit participants globally and still maintain a consistent research experience.

Instant Summaries and Insight in Hours

Traditionally, researchers spend days or weeks watching recordings, transcribing interviews and synthesising data. AI flips that script. Glimma AI Insights, for example, processes weeks’ worth of test data in minutes and surfaces key themes and patterns. It eliminates tedious rewatching of videos, highlights usability issues and user confusion, and delivers presentation‑ready summaries with a single click. Glimma AI summary does the same for moderated tests, generating sentiment analysis, key findings and direct quotes in seconds. With such tools, you can launch a test in the morning and share digestible insights with your client by the afternoon.

AI’s ability to rapidly transcribe conversations and identify patterns extends beyond summarisation. Natural language processing can detect not only what participants say but how they say it, capturing tone, emphasis and emotional undertones. This means your team gets the richness of qualitative insights without the manual overhead.

Benefits for Agencies: Scale Without Sacrificing Depth

AI moderation dramatically increases the number of participants you can engage, enabling more diverse feedback in less time. Since AI doesn’t get tired or require scheduling, you can conduct multiple studies simultaneously.

Speed to Insight

AI‑generated summaries mean you don’t have to choose between depth and agility. Presentation‑ready reports arrive in hours, accelerating decision‑making and keeping your projects on schedule.

Cost Efficiency

Automated moderation reduces operational costs associated with scheduling, transcription and analysis. This allows agencies to allocate human resources to high‑value tasks such as strategic planning and stakeholder engagement.

Enhanced Consistency

AI follows your guide precisely, ensuring consistent moderation across sessions. It automatically tags similar responses and helps surface unexpected patterns that might escape human notice.

Keep Researchers in the Loop

While AI can moderate, analyse and summarise faster than any human team, it’s not a silver bullet. Skilled researchers remain essential to design studies, craft prompts, interpret results and address nuances beyond the AI’s capabilities. Human oversight ensures ethical considerations, cultural context and research objectives are properly addressed, preventing AI from perpetuating bias or misinterpreting subtleties. Think of AI as a super‑efficient assistant: it does the heavy lifting so you can focus on strategy and storytelling.

The Takeaway

AI‑moderated tests are already transforming how agencies gather and use customer insights. By leveraging smart interviewers that detect tonal cues and summarises findings instantly, you can deliver richer research in hours instead of weeks. This doesn’t mean losing the human touch—rather, it frees your team to focus on interpretation, empathy and strategic recommendations. Agencies that adopt these tools will gain a competitive edge through faster insights, broader reach and deeper understanding.